Control mechanism for motor-actuated doors



Apfil 14; 1925.

F. HEDLEY ET AL CONTROL MECHANISM FOR MOTOR ACTUA'IED DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmum Filed Sept. 30, 1919 F. HEDLEY ET AL CONTROL MECHANISM FOR MOTOR ACTUATED DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 30 1919 April 14, 1925.

April 14, 1925.

1,533,112 F. HEDLEY ET AL CONTROL IECHANISM FOR MOTOR ACTUATED DQORS F1106, Sept. so, 1919 s sham-shut 5 III Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

FRANK HEDLEY, or .YoNKEns, AND JAMES s. noYLE, or MOUNT VERNON, ewman-x Application fi led September Mechanism for Motor-Actuated Doors, of

which the following is a specification.

Th s lnvention relates to control and 81gnalling mechan sm for motor actuated doors such as are employed onstreetcarsan'd the like.

The object of the invention is to provide means which are simple'ih construction and efficient in operation for electrically controlling a door operating motor by and when the door in its closingmovement' meetsan obstruction.

A further object of the invention is to provide signal means for affoi ding a visual signal when the door is in its opfen 'position.

A further object Oftllfi invention is to provide means which are electricallycontrolled upon the door meeting illfObSlflllC- tion during its closing movement for reversing the movement of the motor. 1

' Further objects of the invention will ap pear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the construction, combination, location and relative arrangement of parts, all as 'w ill be more fully hereinafter set forth, as shown by the accompanying drawingsand "finally pointed out in theappended claims."

lieicrringtothe drawings:

l igjl is adiagraminatic view in sideclevation of a door and its door actuating inotor and the control thereof employed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation showing parts broken away of the top of the door.

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the bottom of the door.

Fig. 4: is a top plan view in section ofthe door amb showing the signalj mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing the signal mechanism projected.

Fig. 6 is a view in front elevation of the signal device shown iii-Figure 5.

Fig. 7 is a vicwin side elevatiompa-its broken oft, showing another form of semaphore signatdevice, the parts being shown so, 1919. Serial o. 327,578.

in their normal position with the door open. Fig; 8 'is a top plan viewiof the arrangement-shown in Fig. '7 with theldoor closed. Fig. 9' is'atop plan viewshowing a modifled-arrangement of semaphore device.-

The same part is designated by'thesame rezt'ere-nce character wherever it occurs throughout the several views. In" aocordancewith our invention we'propose to providemeans for usein conned tion with electrically controlled door operating motors of the fluid pressure typef and particularly such motors, the opening and closing mQVQments 'of'whio'h are controlled by magnet valves, whereby when the door in its closing movement encounters an obstruction,th'e circuit of the magnet valve controlling the opening nioveme'nt'ofthe door motor will be completed, thereby efi'ectingn reversal of tlhe movement of the door upon meeting the obstruction. At the same time we arrangethe various parts so'thalt when the door has reached thef limi't ofits clos-' ing inovenien-t the same cannot, 'dne' tothe feature ofthis invention, be"ope1'1ed'except in normal operation. ive turther provide mechanically operated means controlled by the position ot'the door for projecting into view and retracting out ofviewa semaphore or otherfform"otvisual signal tonindicating the location of an opendoorfor the benefitj both. of the passengers boarding "or aligliting 'from the carer for the control of the car movements to insure'alldoors are closedbe'toreithe car allowed to'proceed Yonits travel. 7 I

Referring to the drawings, we show diagrainmatically in Fig? 1 'a' door an'cl'its operating motor such" as. "is commonly "em ployed in the street car art,,tlie1door being indicated at 'l and the motor being indicated"generally at 2. .Thefmotor is con-' nected to the. door by 'ineans'ot the arm 3 slidin on the rod toitfthetdoor. The motor 2 is" controlled in the usual-manner byone or more magnet valves to'thereby control the openingfand closing movements of the door; motor cat the two-magnet valve'typebut to which we, do not desire to be'jlimited' or restricted, wherein the magnet valvefiwhen energized actuatesftlie in'otor' to .openth'e door and which we will" tlierjefore"he1'einafter call' tl1e opening magnet. Likew1sc In this instance we show" a r theniagnetvalve 6 controls the motor 2- when energized to actuate the same to close f the door and we will hereinafter refer to said magnet valve 6 as the closing magnet.

*T he ma 'netvalves 5 and 6 are each 'rounded for example as illustrated with reference tofthe valve 5. The normal means for controlling the magnet valves 5 and 6 are not shown in detail, being merely indicated as push buttons 60, as the same form no part of the present invention and are well known andin use in. the art at the present time. The door 1 1s shown to be of the collapsible shoe type, that is, it has mounted at'its forward edge for collapsible movement relative thereto a shoe 7, which conthe front edge of the door jambS in the usual manner. At the top of the door we provide two conductor strips 9 and 10 which are electrically separated from. each other as clearly shown. 'VVithin the collapsible shoe we mount two flexible conducting elements 13 and 1 1. In the preferred formof our invention we prefer to employ two coil springs secured at their top end to an insulating block 15 carried at theupper 3 corner of the door,'and over which thecollapsible shoe engages at its upper end,-sa1d springs being electrically connected to the respective conductor strips 9 and 10. The springs 13 and 1 1 are POSltlOIlGCl'WllE-lllfl the shoe under longitudinal tension; and

normally out of contact with each other. I t will 'be apparent, however, that when the shoe is'collapsed relative to the door, the spring 13 will be brought into contact with the spring 14, thereby establishing 'a circuit connection between the conductor strips 9 and 10' as will be more fully hereinafter set forth. fi 'hebottom ends of the springs are secured *to one end of a lever .17, the other end of which 1s pivotally amounted as at 18 to the front edge of the door. 'The lever 17 is formed with a round ed hook portion 16 at its lower 'end and the conductor spring 18 engages partially around and is'secured to the roundedlower' edge surface of the hook. The end of the spring le is secured to the upperedge sur- 1 face of the hook portion.

It is important that these endsof the springs be efiiciently "insulated" from each other, and also that theybe prevented from grounding through themetal parts of the car framework. To

7 accomplish this, strips 61, of insulating matcrial are applied to the sides of the lever 17, where the latter is of conducting material, and the hook portion 16 is formed on these'insulating strips; Where the lever 17 isritself of insulating material the provision ofthe strips 61 is unnecessary. 1f

' ment of the door. 7

desired, the lever 17 may be slightly bent or deflected .backwardly, as indicated at 62, to afford greater space within the shoe at the lower end of the latter to accommodate the lower ends of the springs and their connections to the lower end of the lever. By this arrangement should the obstruction V to the closing movement of the door take place at say the bottom edge thereof the lever 17 will be caused to be rocked, thereby drawing the two springs 13 and 14 towards each other and insuring the com pletion of-the circuit between the sameas hereinafter set forth. Stationarily mounted relative to the door and its movement are a pair of contactors 2O andv 21 adapted to come in contact with the strips 10 and 9 respectively when the door 'is in any position. Gontactor 2-1 is. connected in any suitable manner with a source of current V which may be the power rail, storage battery, or any other source, :and the contactor 20 is connected through the opening magnet 5 to ground. i

The operation of the apparatus thus far described is believed to be apparent. Assuming the door to be in its full open position in which contacts 21, and 20 are in electrical connection with the strips 9 and 10, the springs 13 and 14 are out of contact with each other, whereby the circuit from the contactor 21 to contactor 20 is open and remains open. The closing magnet 6 is energized to actuate the motor to close the doorin the usual manner by the conductor. Should the door in its closing movement meet an obstruction, say, forexample, the body of a passenger, either boarding or alighting from the car, the shoe '7 is collapsed irrespective of theheight at which the obstruction is, thereby causing electrical circuit connection to be established between the springs 13 and 14, to establish the circuit from contactor 21, strip 9, spring 13, spring 14-, strip 10, contactor 20, magnet valve 5, to ground, thereby energizing the. opening magnet of the motor 2, causing the same to actuate the door motor to open. the door. It will be apparent that as soon as pressure against the shoe? isremoved,

the tension ofthe springs 13 and 14 cause 7 contact with the conductor strips 9 and 10,

if the shoe is collapsed the circuit cannot be established to initiate the opening move Referring to Figures 1, 5 6, we provide a hollow door jamb indicated at 8 to l Ii 0 the front face of which is suitably secured a casing 31, through which a plunger rod' 32 having-mounted thereon a collar 33 between V which collar and the rear end 8 L of the casing 1 is positioned a coil tension spring The front end of the plunger 32 is rounded and projects through the front face 30 of the door jamb. The jamb may be, as is illustrated, but a portion of the car wall which is provided with an opening therein and to which wall by means of a bracket 41 is pivotally secured one end of a lever which lever is pivotally secured intermediate its ends to the inner end of the plunger rod 32. The free end of the lever 42 is slotted as at 43, through which slot passes a pin 44 carried on a lamp case 45, the pin 44 being secured to one edge of the lamp case as shown. lVithin the lamp case may be inserted any suitable visual signal or any visual signal may be substituted for the case itself but in the form shown we employ an electric lamp or other form of lamp which may be seen through suitable windows indicated at 47. From the foregoing it will be seen that when the door reaches the limit of its closing movement, the shoe 7 bears against the end of the plunger 32 forcing the same inwardly in the door jamb 8 against the action of the spring 35, rocking the rod 4-2 counterclockwise in the form illustrated in Figures 4; and 5, which, by means of the slot and pin engagement between the rod 42 and the lamp case a5 causes the lamp case to swing counterclockwise about its hinged support 49, through the opening &0 in the car wall, thereby retracting this visual signal into the car body line where it is unseen and out of the way. lVhen the door 1 is opened and the shoe 7 is withdrawn from contact with the plunger 32, the spring within the casing 31 forces the plunger 32 to the right in the form illustrated in Figures 4; and 5, rocking the arm 42 clockwise and by the means above set forth-rocking the signal 45 likewise clockwise about its hinged support 419 into visual position projected beyond the car body line as will be readily understood.

In Figs. 7 and 8 we have shown a simple signal device wherein a semaphore arm or device 63 is carried by a vertically disposed shaft 64:, journaled on the side of the car body. A pinion 65 on this shaft is engaged by a rock 66, to which is connected a rod 67, the end of which extends beyond the face of the door jamb and into position to be engaged by the front edge of the door when the latter approaches its completely closed position. A spring acting upon rod 67 normally maintains the rod end projected beyond the jamb and the semaphore device 63 in extended or display position. WVhen the door closes the rod' 67 is shifted endwise against the action of spring to move the semaphore or signal device into retracted position. 1

"In Fig. 9 another simple arrangement is shown wherein the semaphore or signal 'de vice shaft69 has a crank arm 70 to which the rod 7-1 is connected, said rod being acted upon by spring to normally extend-the end thereof beyond the jamb face to be engaged by the front edge of the door, in closing. In this, as in the other forms of our invention, the signal device is moved into display'position when the door is open and into retracted position when the door is closed.

Many modifications will be readily seen by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in the claims and we therefore desire to have the foregoing description, together with the drawings illustrating the principles of our invention regarded in the illustrative sense rather than in a limiting sense.

Having now set ture of our invention what we claim as new and useful, and of our own invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a car door control apparatus, and in combination with a car door and a motor for ope-rating it, an electric circuit for controlling the door opening movement of the motor, a pair of flexible contact members normally insulated from each other and arranged to control said circuit, said contact members connected at one end to the upper part of the door at its front edge, and a lever pivotally mounted on the front edge of the door near its bottom edge to which the other ends of said contact members are connected.

2. In a car door control apparatus, and in combination with a car door and a motor for operating it, an electric circuit for controlling the door opening movement of the motor, a pair of flexible contact members nor-mally insulated from each other and arranged to control said circuit, said contact members connected at one end to the upper part of the door at its front edge, and off-set means carried at the lower end of the front edge of the door to which the other ends of said contact members are connected. I

3. In a car door control apparatus, and in combination with a car door and a motor fo operating it, an electric circuit for controlling the door opening movement of the motor, a pair of flexible contact members normally insulated from each other and ar ranged to control said circuit, said contact membersconnected at one end to the upper part of the door at its front edge, and insulating movably mounted means carried at the lower part of the front edge of the door to which the other ends of the contact members are connected. 7

4L. In a car door control apparatus, and in combination with a car door and a motor for forth the objects and na- 2 7 operating it, an electric circuit for controlother end to the lower part of the front edge ling'the door opening movement of the of the door. 1

motor, a 'pair of flexible contact members In testimony whereof We have hereunto 10 normally insulated from each other and arset our hands on this 26th day of September ranged to control said circuit, said contact A. D. 1919.-

7 members connected at one end to the upper V FRANK HEDLEY,

part of the door at its front edge and at the JAMES S. DOYLE. 

